Amos has received a series of visions aimed at the injustices of the nation of Israel and predicting a coming judgment.
Amos 9:1, Strike the pillars
I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
"Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away, none will escape.
Amos sees, in a vision, YHWH standing by the altar (at Bethel?), ordering that the pillars be rattled and come down on the people. After that, the people experience violence and death by the swords of some army. Unlike the earlier visions, Amos is given no role. Here he does not get to challenge God and attempt to change God's mind, as he did in the visions in chapter 7.
Amos 9:2-4, Nowhere to hide
Though they dig down to the depths of the grave,
from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down.
Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
there I will hunt them down and seize them.
Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent to bite them.
Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
there I will command the sword to slay them.
I will fix my eyes upon them for evil
and not for good."
There is nowhere that people can go to avoid God. He sees all and can find people anywhere. This is a very negative version of Psalm 139:7-12. In that psalm, David exults in the fact that God can watch over him everywhere. Here it is the oppressors of the poor that need to fear God's eyes and action. Indeed, if the people attempt to hide in the bottom of the sea, God will send the chaos serpent to bite them!
Amos 9:5-6, He who touches the earth
The Lord, the LORD Almighty,
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn--
the whole land rises like the Nile,
then sinks like the river of Egypt--
he who builds his lofty palace in the heavens
and sets its foundation on the earth,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land--
the LORD is his name.
Amos interrupts the statement of judgment with a praise psalm. The awesome power of YHWH means that when He touches the earth, it melts. He can shake the land like a blanket and build palaces that rise into the stars. Niehaus calls this section a "divine titulary" -- YHWH describes His credentials, His right to make these pronouncements.
Amos 9:7, Just like Cush
"Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the Cushites?"
declares the LORD.
"Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor
and the Arameans from Kir?
Faraway, insignificant Cush (past Egypt) is compared to Israel. Although God has called Israel out by name, they should not be arrogant about this, for He is at work in other nations.
Amos 9:8-10, Grain in a sieve
"Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it from the face of the earth--
yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
and not a pebble will reach the ground.
All the sinners among my people will die by the sword,
all those who say, `Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'
Israel will be shaken like grain in a sieve. The larger pebbles will not fall through. And in a similar way, a remnant of Israel will be saved. (It is not clear whether the small grains or the large pebbles represent the righteous, but the point is that there will be a sifting. See Matthew 13:24-30 for a New Testament story of this sifting.)
Amos 9:11-12, Tent repaired
"In that day
I will restore David's fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places,
restore its ruins,
and build it as it used to be,
so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name,"
declares the LORD, who will do these things.
The nations of Israel and Judah are compared to a collapsing tent. But in a future day, David's fallen kingdom will be repaired, his "tent" restored. A later nation of Israel will "possess ... Edom" and all the nations will bear God's name.
The Hebrew word Edom is very close to the word adam, representing man or mankind. Indeed, the Septuagint appears to come from a text that had "adam" in place of "Edom", for it says that the restoration will "possess the ones remaining of the men ...." It is this version of Amos 9:11-12 that is quoted by James in Acts 15:16-18, arguing that the salvation offered by the Messiah should also be open to all people.
Amos 9:13-15, Prosperity
"The days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills.
I will bring back my exiled people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted
from the land I have given them,"
says the LORD your God.
In a future day, the land will bloom with fruit. The prosperous growth will ripen so quickly that behind the one sowing seed will come the one harvesting the crop. The people will build houses and live in them, plant vineyards and gardens and enjoy the results of their work. (Isaiah 65:17-25 has a similar promise.) In that future land, Israel will continue eternally, never again to be uprooted.
Some Random Thoughts
Any serious reading of the Old Testament prophets leads one to see their view of a future life as a physical one in a physical Israel. It is not a strange disembodied life somewhere in the clouds of "heaven." Ezekiel describes a future nation and temple in chapters 40 to 49, after the dry bones of chapter 37 come to life. Prophets like Isaiah, Hosea, Joel and Amos end their books with a remnant returning to Israel, to never leave again. In the New Testament book of Revelation, we are told (Revelation 21:1-22:5) that there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth.
This viewpoint is probably not consistent with the church phrase, "When I get to heaven...." Maybe a more biblical phrase (at least from the point of view of the Old Testament Hebrews) would be "When I am in the new heaven and earth..."?
First published July 5, 2025; updated July 5, 2025
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